


Let Me Roll It

by LizAnn_5869



Series: Small Beautiful Events are what Life is All About [2]
Category: Doctor Who, Doctor Who & Related Fandoms, Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: F/M, Love songs, Matchmaker TARDIS, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-05-30
Updated: 2015-05-31
Packaged: 2018-04-02 01:54:19
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,447
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4041187
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LizAnn_5869/pseuds/LizAnn_5869
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"I can't tell you how I feel...<br/>my heart is like a wheel<br/>Let me roll it to you...."<br/>- lyrics by Paul McCartney<br/>The TARDIS is a musical matchmaker.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. My Heart is Like a Wheel

**Author's Note:**

> Like Jackie in my story I am a huge Beatles fan, and a fan of Paul McCartney in particular. The lyrics to the song "Let Me Roll It" sounded so Doctor and Rose that I couldn't help putting the song together with the story. As always the BBC and Paul McCartney own characters and song, and I'm pretty sure Sir Paul never would have thought his music would be used this way.

You give me somethin"  
I understand  
You give me lovin  
In the palm of my hand  
I can't tell you how I feel,  
My heart is like a wheel  
Let me roll it  
Let me roll it to you

 

Jackie Tyler was an unapologetic Cliff Richard fan (and the Doctor still held that against her) but if you asked her who her music crush was she would answer firmly and definitely: Paul McCartney. Rose had grown up on his music. Her gran had been a Beatles fan and passed that to Jackie and Jackie's favorite was the "cute one" so she sought out all his solo songs and wore out a VHS copy of "Give My Regards to Broad Street." Rose had listened to his music from infancy. Beatles, Wings or solo, Rose had become a McCartney fan as well.

Rose had been thinking of her favorite songs, which had led to the TARDIS broadcasting through the wireless speakers in the TARDIS galley. She didn't know how  
The TARDIS could play what was on her iPod without wires..or without the ipod being on for that matter, and she really didn't care to know.

She knew that the TARDIS also had musical preferences and would block boy bands and most rap music. Those playlists just wouldn't play. 

"Band on the Run" was finishing up as Rose brewed tea and pulled the biscuits out of the cupboard. The next song, "Eight Days a Week," shuffled up and not for the first time Rose thought that the TARDIS might also be controlling the order of the songs played as well, particularly when she had a point to prove. The week after Reinette it was Cliff Richard all the time, just to torment the Time Lord. Even she and Mickey had gotten sick of it. She was pretty sure she hadn't put all those songs on the iPod to begin with. 

The TARDIS was capable of broadcasting the music to one room or a multitude of rooms, depending on her mood. Sometimes she and the Doctor requested it, like after the Blitz in London when she and he danced the night away to Glenn Miller. Sometimes the TARDIS had a sense of humor and played songs like "Bad Moon Rising" "Werewolves of London" after Torchwood Estate. And she knew those weren't on the iPod. The TARDIS was just spooky like that sometimes. 

She could tell that the TARDIS was playing the music all over the place from the echo in the hallways. That was fine, the Doctor enjoyed the Beatles as well. She found the biscuit tin she was searching for as the next song began- "She Loves You." She briefly wondered if the TARDIS was sending messages again. Not that her Doctor would ever admit to catching on, mind you. She couldn't believe that he was really that obtuse, that the signals she sent weren't coming through on some level, and she wondered if he would ever make any kind of move. Other than to distract, deflect and run with Tigger-like enthusiasm to another adventure. She sighed. She was committed to him for all of her forever and while it would be frustrating, she could deal. She just wanted a clear signal of what he intended. Yes or no, because being strung along with flirtation and flight was really wearing her down.

 

In the console room the Doctor hauled himself up from the underside of the the grating, sonic wedged in his teeth and wiring in his hands. He had reached a point where he couldn't get the repair done without going back to his workshop to find a couple of contrafibrulator sequencing bolts and 50 millimeter wire so his mind immediately turned to the tea and biscuits Rose had promised him thirty-two minutes and fourteen point five seconds ago. He was startled by the sound of sixties rock pouring out of the hidden speakers above the time rotor. "She Loves You." Rose was listening to her music again and the TARDIS had apparently decided to share. 

"With a love like that, you know you should be glad," he picked up the lyrics and sang along absently as he wandered back to his toolbox to deposit the wires he had removed. "She loves you...."he trailed off. "Trying to send a message again, old girl?" He knew when his time ship felt the need to randomly share she was trying to get a point across. It was one of her more pleasant ways, as opposed to locking him out of his own bedroom and dematerialing randomly so that he and Rose would have to take a room overnight in that roach motel in Philadelphia, 1978 that one time, when they had stayed up all night laughing and talking and definitely not shagging or anything like that. She didn't even have the decency to at least strand them two years earlier when the Bicentennial was going on and things were at least  
interesting. 

"Pride can hurt you too, apologize to her...." 

Blimey! "And what precisely do I have to apologize for...today? As far as I know I haven't done a single wrong thing, at this point in the day. I have nothing to apologize for!" Except for perhaps leading her on and letting her down, there was that. And there were reasons and rules and centuries of separating themselves from other species deemed below the Time Lords. 

She could never be considered beneath him. She was Rose, beautiful and brilliant and capable and why even have rules anyway?

Ah yes. Curse of the the Time Lords.  
There would be a reason right there.

Fear was exhausting. He feared that she would leave of her own accord. He feared that the universe would rip her away from him. He feared that time would take her, she would grow old, die and leave him alone anyway. He was tired of expending energy on the fear.

And he was hungry. He sighed, wiped his hands on his trousers and went off to find the tea and biscuits.

The Doctor was distracted walking through the hall to the galley, so he didn't register that song had changed. 

 

In the galley Rose was arranging jammy dodgers and singing along to one of her favorite Paul McCartney songs. She loved the blusey guitar, the growl of his voice. And the words...well, they were hitting home a little more than usual. She swayed her hips too, in time with the sensual beat.

"You give me somethin"  
I understand  
You give me lovin  
In the palm of my hand  
I can't tell you how I feel,  
My heart is like a wheel  
Let me roll it  
Let me roll it to you...."

Of course, that would be the moment the Doctor chose to charge into the kitchen. 

She was a picture. Totally unaware of her audience she sang, swaying her hips. She was clad in a pair of faded denim capris and the shirt she wore when she hung from a barrage balloon during the London Blitz. Her hair was piled on her head in a messy bun. He thought he had never seen anything lovelier. She took his breath away and suddenly the doubt from before didn't seem important any more. 

"I want to tell you, and now's the time  
I want to tell you that you are going to be mine..." She suddenly made eye contact with the Doctor and trailed off ,suddenly mortified to be caught out. She blushed and dropped her eyes.

"You have a gorgeous voice, Rose Tyler. I wish you sang more." Two steps and he was toe to toe with her. 

He lifted her chin. "Rose," he breathed. Where had his respiratory bypass gone? It was so simple to lean down and brush his lips to hers. Then she was returning the pressure with soft lips and gentle hands slipped into his own. 

Her mind was in a whirlwind, the world having tilted on its axis in the last ten seconds. She didn't want to question it because it felt so good, but blimey ....His tongue brushed her lips- an invitation to deepen the kiss- and it took all her strength to step back, push him back a pace. It took an immense amount of strength because all she wanted to do was taste him. 

Confusion clouded his eyes, as well as a small amount of hurt. "I...thought..was I mistaken?" He muttered.

"You're not mistaken. I want this, Doctor. You have me for my forever, whether we do this-" she indicated between the two of them - "or not. I'm not gonna leave you. But if we do this, there's no going back for me. I can't do flirt and flight any more." Her eyes were wide and serious. She stood there with a confidence she didn't really feel. Her hands were starting to tremble, just a bit. She thought, who am I to give this all powerful Time Lord an ultimatum. She kept her eyes locked on his even though she desperately wanted to look away. 

The Time Lord stood there in silence, eyes fixed on Rose. It didn't escape him that she had given him an out. And he also realized that he, for the first time in centuries, wasn't going to take it. Maybe not coward every time, after all. "I can't do it either," he whispered and her eyes flashed disappointment for a second. He realized she misunderstood immediately. "The flirt and flight thing. Excellent name for it, though, for something I don't want to do any more." He took her hands again. "I think our TARDIS is trying to tell me something, has been all day, and now I'm ready to listen. I don't do this, not in a very long time and definitely not with a traveling companion. I'm ready to let that go because I can't bear the idea of not being properly together with you. You're different, Rose Tyler, and you've seared yourself on my hearts like no one else has before." She gasped and squeezed his hands more tightly . This was not what she had expected to hear. "I was...hoping you were....ready for something more, as well."

Tears were blooming in her eyes but she gave him that tongue touched grin that made his hearts speed up. "I am," she said, smiling.

"I wish I'd done this sooner. Like when I took you to meet Dickens...or Woman Wept but Jack was with us on that one and....."

"Kiss me," she simply said.

"Absolutely," he answered and set about taking care of the situation. 

The Doctor wrapped his arms around her and lowered his lips to hers. At first it was chaste, the same amount of pressure and insistence with which he begun the first kiss. This time, though, it was Rose's tongue doing the inviting and with a sigh of pleasure he opened his mouth to her. His arms wrapped around her more tightly and her hands slid into his hair. The pleasant light scratch of her nails on his scalp made him moan low in his throat and pull her body flush against his. Hands began to wander then, his skimming her sides, over her hips then sliding around to the tantalizing dip of her back and onto the curve of her bum. They kissed and tasted each other breathless until Rose had to break away to breathe. She could feel his body responding to hers and held him tighter, humming at the feel of him against her. She couldn't resist rocking her hips into his, just a bit.

Foreheads together now, the Doctor panted out, "Do we slow down now? I can't think of any reason at all to slow down, can you? Oh, Rose." He wrapped his arms around her firmly and set her on the counter. She wrapped her legs around his waist and reeled him in close to her. They returned to the matter at hand, snogging each other senseless. There really was no reason to stop.

Until Rose's mobile rang, the ringtone "A Little In Love," by Cliff Richard- Jackie's ringtone. Rose, distracted, broke the kiss and the Doctor actually snarled at her phone. "It's Mum," she said, apologetically. She didn't call often. The last time had been to warn them about Elton Pope. "I have to take this." She hopped down from the counter, and the Doctor took a step back, with a look of consternation creasing his brow. He took deep breaths to regulate his body's response to Rose's lovely kisses (and body too, don't forget that...) He had a suspicion that he would not be following up on this any time soon.

He was right.

Not long afterwards Rose and the Doctor arrived in modern day London. Her Mum hadn't come out directly and said some thing was wrong, but Rose had a feeling. It wouldn't hurt to visit, and she did need to do some laundry....

They met an army of ghosts. 

A white wall and a beach and a runaway bride later, the TARDIS began to play some Beatles - something quiet and soothing, the time ship hoped. but the Doctor aimed the sonic at the speakers and music didn't play again on his TARDIS. Not until Martha Jones had a TARDIS key. She wasn't a big Beatles fan, so it worked out.


	2. You Are Going to be Mine

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A song brings back memories for the Doctor and Rose in Pete's World.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is a bit more mature than the previous one.

"I want to tell you  
and now's the time  
I want to tell you  
You are going to be mine....."

Three (Pete's World) years later...... 

It was three weeks since the second trip to Bad Wolf Bay, and the Doctor and Rose were mostly settled into the guest house at the Tyler Estate. Rose had lived in it while dimension hopping. And by live in it, she meant it was a place to store her clothes and be alone in the brief periods between dimension cannon jumps. It never felt like a home. It was a little easier to take with the Doctor there with her. They were slowly easing into making a home together.

The Doctor, surprisingly enough, wasn't feeling suffocated by it. As he put it, there was no mortgage or carpets. Pete didn't want carpets. The first Jackie had demanded a guest house, and Pete had insisted it be built to his specifications because he had the feeling he was about to be relegated to it anyway. Pete hated carpets, they aggravated his allergies. The Doctor respected his hatred of carpets. 

The Doctor and Rose liked the little house. It had a nice open kitchen and living room with a fireplace surrounded by a ton of bookshelves. The Doctor had grand plans for filling those shelves. They had two small bedrooms downstairs and a loft room upstairs. They were a bit clingy still and didn't like being out of each other's sight for long, so they immediately decided to share the bed in the loft. For sleeping only, however.

They spent the first week together walking on eggshells until Rose finally broke and confronted him about his habit of sending her away when things got dangerous, and he reassured her that he wouldn't ever do that again. He felt like she was the only thing tethering him to this planet and this universe and he needed her too much to ever send her away. He broke and railed about his one human heart and how his chest hurt at times. He had nightmares about Donna and finally had to confess that the Doctor in brown was alone again. They cried over their grief together. ( He also had face the horror that was clothes shopping, but at least Rose was standing by him all through that as well.). Things had calmed down by the middle of the second week, but he still seemed unsure of how to make a move again. They decided to ease into a physical relationship, a decision that seemed perfectly rational. 

At that point in time.

There were many kisses shared, chaste and not so chaste, but they were still feeling their way around this new normal. Rose was hoping that soon, they'd stop feeling their way around the new normal and start feeling each other. 

She was in their kitchen with its stainless steel appliances, much more posh than any place she'd ever lived (except the TARDIS) making tea and singing along to the new iPod she'd purchased a week ago. She had no need of one when she arrived in Pete's World, having no interest in listening to music. Not even Pete's extensive record collection. 

She and the Doctor had had fun one evening picking out songs for it. They didn't have a TARDIS old enough to control the music, so their choices were all theirs. "Moonlight Serenade." Lots of Beatles. No Cliff Richard. Some Elvis as well. In their universe, the Doctor was thrilled to find out that all four Beatles were still alive and occasionally did the odd reunion concert. He was hoping he'd get to catch one eventually. (Elvis had left the planet, and gone back to his home world. He popped in occasionally as well. ) She missed having a TARDIS choosing the music, but it was certainly nice to want to listen to songs again.

 

Her new, new, new Doctor was currently out in his new shed in the backyard, tending to their baby TARDIS. Carpet preferences aside, the Doctor also respected Pete's security measures and knew his TARDIS was probably in one of safest places she could be. He shuddered at the thought of growing the time ship at Torchwood, especially Canary Wharf. He was thankful to have such a perfect place for her. She was growing well already, his amazing time ship, thanks to Donna.

He was running calculations through the shatter fry unit he'd scrounged from Torchwood archives (his dislike of the place didn't keep him from scavenging for what he needed), fine tuning components with his newly acquired sonic screwdriver. Rose had presented him with it the first night they stayed in the house. He asked where she'd found that and all she told him was that she found it when she met Donna. She didn't want to discuss it further, only saying that the Doctor of that bubble universe had no need of it any longer. She didn't offer more details. It was still too difficult for her to talk about it.

He pushed his desk chair back from the table at his work station. He stretched his back, ruminating again on how his back now hurt if he sat in one position for too long and how the glasses perched on his nose were now not just for show. They still made him look brainy, he supposed. He took them off and pressed the bridge of his nose. His stomach growled. He decided to see how long it was until the food would be ready. The human body took a lot of getting used to. And a lot more maintenance. 

The Doctor liked his little garden area between the back French doors and his shed. There was a small path to a man made pond that he and Rose enjoyed hiking. He loved those hikes and the talks they shared. They were slowly getting their equilibrium back and he hoped that they could move forward with things soon. 

As he passed by the pergola Rose had decorated with TARDIS blue fairy lights, he could hear music coming from the open window.

A few blusey guitar riffs transported him back to his TARDIS when two hearts beat in his chest (but only for Rose Tyler.) Rose was singing. "I can't tell you how I feel... My heart is like a wheel, let me roll it...let me roll it to you..." He opened the French door into the kitchen and stopped and watched her sing. She was still a picture. She no longer owned that Union Jack t-shirt and her trousers and blouse were more business casual than teenaged shop girl but she was his Rose. Always his Rose. And suddenly, the notion of taking things slowly, getting used to the "new normal" (blimey, but he hated that phrase) was the furthest thing from his mind. No more Curse of the Time Lords. No more flirt and flight and waiting until it was nearly too late. No more waiting. He was determined to finish what they started the last time he heard her singing that song. 

Rose's mobile lay on the table across from the counter where she worked and before he said or did anything he strode over to it and silenced it. At that moment Rose's singing trailed off and she stared at her Doctor. "You should sing more, Rose Tyler. I still love your voice." 

"You remember," she whispered. 

"I couldn't forget that. Our first kiss. Wellllll......our first kiss when you weren't possessed or all glowing. The TARDIS was playing matchmaker."

"Yes.....she must have gotten sick of us," Rose murmured.

"She was right to." The Doctor was toe to toe with her now. "I'm still me, love. Surely you know that."

"If I've had any doubts, they're gone now," she said with a small smile. 

"So...."

"Kiss me," she simply said.

"Absolutely," he replied and leaned down. Their lips met, slowly, gently. It wasn't the hard, frantic kiss of the beach or like any they'd shared since arriving in this universe. It was slow. Soft lips and tongues tasting and tasting each other. It was his lips finding the sweet spot between her neck and shoulder. Hers finding his earlobe and her feeling the rumble in his chest as moaned quietly. 

No, it wasn't like the beach kiss at all. Nor was it really like that first kiss on the TARDIS. That had been a promise. This kiss was one of intent.

******** 

They lay bare together in the bed in their loft, both still trying to get their senses back and slow their breathing. Rose could still feel the delicious aftershocks. Her heart, now his second heart, was still racing. They were forehead to forehead until the Doctor reluctantly rolled to his back, drawing her warm body close to his.

"I love you, Rose Tyler," he sighed.

"I love you, my Doctor," she replied, kissing the spot over where his other heart would be. They settled together comfortably, legs entwined. 

They were quiet for a bit, just listening to each other breathing. The Doctor was on the verge of dozing off, when Rose spoke. "I wonder which song the TARDIS would have played for us if she had known we finally...." The Doctor was still, and for a second she thought the might have said the wrong thing, reminding of his ship in the other universe. "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have mentioned...."

"No! No....I'm okay. I miss her terribly, I miss having her in my head. But you know what? I'm starting to feel our little one. She's amazing! I can't believe I can, not so soon. And you're with me, and you fill up a very large space in there that I was missing for so, so long. I think...that one day, if you want....you and I could bond. Telepathically, that is....if you want...."

Rose leaned over him and kissed him quiet. "I want that."

He smiled brilliantly. "We can do that...whenever you're ready for it, we can."

"I'd love it," she smiled and settled herself against his chest again. They were quiet.

"In My Life," the Doctor broke the silence.

"What?"

"The song. I know you're more of a McCartney fan but Lennon wrote some beautiful lyrics for that one. 'And with all these friends and lovers...there's no one, compares with you....' I've met many people in over 900 years. I've been married and had a family, which is a much different thing on Gallifrey, mind you."  
He rolled to his side so he could face Rose. "But that song fits us so well, because no one compares with you. If my future is on the slow path, I would only want it to be with you."

Rose found herself suddenly unable to speak. 

"What?" The Doctor said, suddenly a bit worried that he'd said the wrong thing. 

"You're so open now," Rose marveled. 

"Thank Donna, I suppose. She was always telling me I talked and talked and said nothing. Having him some of her DNA has improved that I'm sure."

Rose entwined her arms around his neck and pulled the Doctor close. "I don't think that's the case any more," she said. "You were very good at deflecting. I don't think this you does that. As much, anyway."

"I don't have a reason to now. Didn't really have a reason then, really, when it comes down to it. I've been an idiot."

"No, love, no. It happened when it was supposed to. This is our time now. I love you and I'm not looking back. I will always remember the you with the ears and the you in the pinstripes and I will miss them terribly. But no one compares to you. So that song is very us." They kissed gently. "I know it won't be easy. It's going to be so different for you, living a life day to day."

"With you, it will be easier. And our TARDIS will grow. My chest doesn't hurt anymore, with the one heart. There's no carpet in this house. Not thrilled about Torchwood, but at least I have an in with the management..." He wiggled his eyebrows. 

She giggled. "Don't you just?" 

"I need to work on solidifying that...." He rolled over onto her and settled in for a long slow kiss as she giggled, until she started to moan when the Doctor began teasing her earlobe with tongue and teeth. He broke away long enough to laugh.

"What?"

He began sucking on her neck. 

"Doctor.....oh." He found the sweet spot again.

"Just thinking of what else the TARDIS could have played for us...if she had felt a bit naughty." His hands began to wander, sliding up her ribs. "'Come Together', for example..." Rose began to giggle. He bit down gently and sweetly between her shoulder and neck. "'Why Don't We Do It In the Road.'" Rose was shaking both with laughter and the sensation of the Doctor kissing a meandering path to her breasts.

She smacked his arm. "Oh, shut up! You're so bad!"

He looked up from her breast, winking mischievously. "'Hard Day's..."

She pulled him up to her face, laughing, and silenced him with a long, slow deep kiss.

**Author's Note:**

> Okay, I'm sorry for the sad ending to chapter 1. I agonized over that for quite a while. But then I had to go with it. Things get better.....
> 
>  
> 
> ....And so they did get better. The music muse hasn't left me so there may be a couple more musically related stories about these two.
> 
> If you've never heard "Let Me Roll It," it appears on the Wings album "Band on the Run" and there are live versions (which I actually prefer) on other greatest hits albums. It's worth a listen.


End file.
